We made substantial progress on the front crescent-shaped planting bed last night. And when I say we, I mean I did all the work and Oli supervised. He's good at that.
This is what the bed has looked like for the last couple of months. The plastic and other weighty objects were my attempt to kill the weeds. I pulled it all off a few weeks ago and found a lot of hearty crab grass. So I scraped the top layer of soil out of the bed, and onto the concrete, and covered it all back up. Not pretty, but effective.
When I pulled the plastic, pots, mats, bricks, and stepping stones off the area tonight, I found that it had worked pretty well, and I only had to pull a couple of weeds, which came out easily because they were not thriving. Please forgive the photos, I snapped these well after the sun went down, but it was still light enough to work.
Oli is still not allowed on the front porch
because of the baby robins, and he's not happy that he has to be so far from the activity. We all know how much he likes to sink his paws into fresh soil.
I broke up the soil a bit with the hoe, and scraped it around with the metal rake, then I added two fresh bags of topsoil, and did my best to level it all with the rake. It was kind of hard to tell because it was getting pretty dark by then, and I was working by the light from the porch and the citronella candles.
I put my potted plants in position, planted two more cucumbers in the ground, and placed the recycled rubber stepping stones. Now I just need to fill in the gaps with plants, or I'll have the same weed problem I started with.
I have some seeds that will probably work, but I'm going to see what Mom and I find when we visit Noggle's Sweet Meadow Greenhouse. They are having a buy one, get one sale. I'm thinking that this late in the game, I'd rather not mess around with seeds, grown up plants will be better.
Plants: at the far back, against the porch pillar, one cucumber, with twine to climb, next to it, Lewis' frog belly plant. In the yellow pot, chives. The two plastic terracotta colored pots (16" and heavy), one each of Better Boy and Sweet Millions tomatoes. Lavender in the white pot at the front, flanked by two more cucumbers. The marigolds came up on their own, and I'll probably plant more. Marigolds keep the bunnies away.
Now I just need to find something for the two cucumbers in the front to climb...
Here is a close up of the leaves:
As I've mentioned before, it has seen some storm damage, and I'm worried it may be near the end of its life cycle. I wouldn't be too surprised if this tree is as old as the house.
When I pulled the plastic, pots, mats, bricks, and stepping stones off the area tonight, I found that it had worked pretty well, and I only had to pull a couple of weeds, which came out easily because they were not thriving. Please forgive the photos, I snapped these well after the sun went down, but it was still light enough to work.
Oli is still not allowed on the front porch because of the baby robins, and he's not happy that he has to be so far from the activity. We all know how much he likes to sink his paws into fresh soil.
I broke up the soil a bit with the hoe, and scraped it around with the metal rake, then I added two fresh bags of topsoil, and did my best to level it all with the rake. It was kind of hard to tell because it was getting pretty dark by then, and I was working by the light from the porch and the citronella candles.
I put my potted plants in position, planted two more cucumbers in the ground, and placed the recycled rubber stepping stones. Now I just need to fill in the gaps with plants, or I'll have the same weed problem I started with.
Plants: at the far back, against the porch pillar, one cucumber, with twine to climb, next to it, Lewis' frog belly plant. In the yellow pot, chives. The two plastic terracotta colored pots (16" and heavy), one each of Better Boy and Sweet Millions tomatoes. Lavender in the white pot at the front, flanked by two more cucumbers. The marigolds came up on their own, and I'll probably plant more. Marigolds keep the bunnies away.
And who can blame her when she's protecting such cuties.
A far cry from just one week ago.
They are surprisingly quiet, but Mother isn't. She makes quite a ruckus when she thinks I'm near. Like when I'm snapping pictures of her babies. Or when I'm minding my own business, working on the yard.
I keep checking the nest, hopefully I'll catch it when they are all out learning to fly, so I can quickly water this poor thing. It has come back from this level of neglect before, so if it can just hold on a couple more days, I think it will be okay.
20 June 2008
Oliver is not allowed to be on the front porch until these little guys have learned to fly. Any guess how long that will be?
Yeah... that loose plaster finally came down. On its own. Glad no one was standing under that. I have been meaning to take a picture of it sagging, and how the P.O.s used clear silicone caulk to hold it in place. But now I have lost my chance to document that fab use of caulk. Although, that bit hanging down? That's caulk plus plaster dirt.
I swept it all up while Oliver was doing his business outside, and in hindsight, I think I probably should have worn a dust mask. Don't really need to be breathing the dust of who-knows-what. But it was quarter to two, and the doggie could bark at any moment, so I just wanted to get it all cleaned up before he came back in. 'Cause you just know he would have walked through it. Or stolen a chunk of plaster. That would have been a good game.
Looks like a perfectly ordinary hanging plant, right?
Well, to Mother Robin, it must have looked like the perfect sheltered spot for her soon-to-be babies.
Mostly, I've done this because the only air conditioner that is installed is in the dining room, and we are having a bit of a heat wave right now. I don't want my little boy to be too hot while I'm not home.
